US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell stated in Tbilisi today that western countries have only recently ‘woken up’ and realised that Russia is a threat. He said the west could not see the threat from Russia even after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.

Earlier, they [western politicians] used to say that Russia is not threat. Now, they have woken up in the West and realised that Russia is a threat. It is a pity that we did not wake up [directly] after the Russia-Georgia war and this fact became the precondition for starting the war in Ukraine,” Mitchell said during a conference organised by the McCain Institute and the Georgian Economic Policy Development Centre.

The West has now woken up and they already know that Russia is a serious player. We must say goodbye to the idea that Russia is weak, we must say goodbye to the idea that economic stagnation in Russia is weakening Russia. Putin is a threat and he is carrying out aggression,” Mitchell stated.

A consistent message throughout #TbilisiConf echoed by Wess Mitchell: The success of democracy in Georgia is the only way - longterm - to secure Georgia and accelerate the path to Western institutions. pic.twitter.com/f1aG2QmLXj

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, who also delivered a speech at the conference, stated that the country’s future president should be very clear and vocal about Russian illegalities in Georgia.

President of Georgia has to hold to main value: Georgia is a sovereign independent nation with right to protect itself, choose its allies & no whatsoever justification of the occupation or the Russian aggression is or will be acceptable. #TbilisiConf@McCainInstitutepic.twitter.com/xLRtSPNRaU